Recently I was asked how I instill a love of reading in my kids, especially with a book heavy curriculum like Tapestry of Grace.  I was a bookworm while growing up and that was my number one drive to become a teacher. When I was a college student I put a large badge on my backpack, "If you can read this, thank a teacher." I felt if I could teach kids not only how to read, but also how to enjoy reading, the sky would be the limit for them.  That has always been my motto, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a similar saying at the Library of Congress last summer.

      Using a classical curriculum has built upon this idea. Because there is no time to read all of the Classics in 4 years of high school, the hope is to lay a foundation of not only understanding, but enjoyment of learning, for the student to pursue reading the Classics throughout adulthood.  Does this not encompass the dream of every teacher? 

      However, before teaching the Classics at the Rhetoric level, I need to instill the basic love of reading.  Most every parent knows that this begins when children are very young with read alouds. What can be better than cuddling up with children and reading books out loud, living out adventures from days of yore around the world?  My kids loved books so much growing up, that whenever one of the grandmas or aunts came to visit, they were asked required to read books out loud for hours on end.  Our visitors would tell us that they had dreams at night that at the airport, they had to go through a special inspection station where they were required to correctly answer questions about the books they had read to the kids. In the dreams I guess they feared whether they could get the process straight about how water is cleaned in water treatment plants from all the times they read The Magic Schoolbus at the Waterworks. (Gotta love Ms. Frizzle!)  That was the year I had enrolled them in the summer reading program at the public library. When awards were given, they got the one for most hours read.  Everyone was astounded over how many hours they had been read to!  Thanks to the aunt and grandma who read many hours to the kids, on top of the hours my husband and I were reading to them! 

      I know a lot of homeschool moms who are concerned about the independent reading load in Tapestry of Grace, because they have read aloud all the history and literature books to their kids for years. These kids are not fans of silent independent reading, so that is basically what spurred this post. It is concerning when kids do not enjoy independent reading and are reliant on Mom to do all the reading for them. At some point in time a transition to independent reading needs to be made. After all, Mom won't always be around to read everything aloud. Whether college is in the future or not, the child grows up and must eventually face reading independently. Hopefully they can approach it with anticipation and pleasure. Parents in this boat might be surprised to read my suggestion to keep reading aloud!  The difference is that not everything should be read aloud. When a student reaches Upper Grammar years, about grades 4-6, they should be learning how to read independently.  By Dialectic and Rhetoric years, try to keep the read aloud to one book.  Keep that special time, but don't let it become the focus. It should become the treat.  Meanwhile, turn off the television, video games and other electronic entertainment. Focus on old fashioned entertainment like outdoor play and open ended toys like tinker toys, legos, marbleworks, etc. For more on this subject, locate a copy of The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. In it, he makes the case for minimizing electronic entertainment, perhaps one show a week, and maximizing books, puzzles, board games, outdoor play, etc.  In the back of the book are booklists of great read alouds, with a synopsis of recommended books. I have had comments from one of the aunts and grandma that when my kids watch a lot of television, they become comotose.  Not only that but they struggle more in school when they get too much electronic entertainment.   

     Sometimes the challenge with older students enjoying independent reading is the transition from picture books to chapter books.  I first faced this as a public school teacher of third grade students. I knew part of the hurdle was to inspire them with great literature.  I deliberated over which set of books to read to my third graders. A continuing series would be great. Since I probably would not be able to finish the series in nine months, they would hopefully be inspired to complete the series on their own. What would be fascinating, yet different? What would prepare them for the future? Hmmm, how were my previous fifth graders least prepared when I taught them?  Hmmmm, sadly, American history.  How could I best prepare my third graders, in an interesting way, for American history in fifth grade?  Then I hit upon a favorite from my childhood, The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I knew a lot of background information that I could easily incorporate into unit studies. Also, I've actually been to her husband, Almonzo's house,  in upstate New York near the Canadian border.  I had plans to bring  to life the story of a pioneer girl who lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, then traveled by covered wagon to Indian Territory, Minnesota and South Dakota. She endured plagues, blizzards, and saw a railroad and a town built from scratch. She has inspired me to have the Declaration of Independence read aloud every July 4th, like in the Independence Day celebrations she attended.   

     My new class of third graders arrived and I quickly saw that they were terrified of chapter books. It didn't help that the new school librarian told them they could only check out picture books, because they were not old enough to read chapter books. That was preposterous!   I told the students they COULD read chapter books. They merely contain more words on the page and fewer pictures.  That meant there was more of an adventure to savor! I opened Little House in the Big Woods (Book 1 in the series) and reeled them in to the historic past. By the time we were halfway through Little House on the Prairie(Book 2 in the series), they were enthralled. They started asking the librarian to allow them to check out the Little House books.  She insisted they couldn't possibly read the chapter books. They insisted they definitely could.  She insisted they could not.  They wore her down. Starting in late September, 99% of my students had 1-2 Little House chapter books stacked on the corners of their desks every day to savor when they had completed seat work.  Interestingly, that school year, the Scholastic book club offered a Little House book in each month's order.  My students bought the entire series!  We did related art projects, which I'd post on the wall outside the classroom for all to see. Above the art work I made a USA map with a moveable Conestoga Wagon that traced Laura's journeys throughout the Midwest. I put the titles of the books at the locations where they occured.  This got the other students in the school excited! I had other teachers tell me that their students were jealous of my students who had fun traveling with Laura.  When the third grade received money to purchase classroom sets of books, the lead teacher looked at me and said, "Laurie, since you teach the Little House books, why don't we order classroom sets of the first two books in the series?"  Those books were often checked out by the other teachers in the school. By the end of the year, we got halfway through The Long Winter.  Sadly we said goodbye at the end of the year.  I gave them a synopsis of the rest of the series and eagerly they went home to begin summer reading, completing the series!

     Many homeschool moms already do this type of thing.  Perhaps the one key point I'd like to pull out, is the difference in outlook between the librarian and myself. She made it impossible. All I did was make it possible. Our greatest role as teachers is to be the students' greatest cheerleader. They need to know that they can.  Our outlook can make all the difference. If we make it exciting, if we say "they can", if we help them through the process, the students are more likely to try...and "accidentally" enjoy.

     That leads me to my own kids.  My daughter struggled with learning to read, yet finally got a handle on oral reading. My younger son practically taught himself to read.  During their early school years, we had our read aloud snuggle time with the Little House books.  These books were highly enjoyed and brought up a lot of conversation.  The time came to transition my kids from picture books to chapter books. I looked for books that would match not only their interests, but also their reading ability. My son enjoyed trains, so I introduced him to The Boxcar Children. When he first saw them he wanted me to read them out loud to him. No, I wanted him to read it independently.  He said it was too many words and not enough pictures. I replied that's because it had more adventure. Curious, he finally read the first book and got hooked. In fact, he got so hooked, he would read nothing but The Boxcar Children. His favorite character was a boy in the story who has the same name he does. These kids became his motivation for everything. If the Boxcar Children did something, he had to do it. If the Boxcar Children said it, it was so.  I began to worry. I had created a monster! How to motivate him to read something else? He was open to my reading other books aloud, but he'd only read the Boxcar Children. When we started Tapestry of Grace, I feared he would mutiny on reading the literature books. Remember I said we are the students' greatest cheerleader? In private I worried; in public I excitedly talked about the books. His first TOG literature book was The Golden Goblet. It was a hit! Every year I ask him what his favorite literature book is. Every year he tells me, all of them. Except this year. When we studied Napolean, he was not a fan of this man.  For literature he was supposed to read an actual primary source account of the Napoleonic Wars, called The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier.  Because this book was building a wall, I took it off his reading list. That is the first time I have done that. (Remember that TOG is flexible and be careful to choose your battles. Adjust the book choices to fit your kids, but keep an element of challenge.)  Now that we know that my son's favorite actor at Colonial Williamsburg portrays Napoleon in his "free time", and we've seen him portray Napoleon at Poplar Forest with Thomas Jefferson, I am hoping my son might be more open minded in reading this book over the summer. The Napoleonic Wars were huge in history. I told my kids that we had to learn about Napoleon because they will never stop hearing about him.  I don't think a single week has gone by in school (Year 3), when he hasn't come up. I don't think we've watched a single movie about the 1800's that did not mention him. Friday nights are usually movie nights around here, and we usually watch a movie related to the historical era we are studying. Every week it seems we hear about Napoleon and we all laugh, "There he is again!"  Because Napoleon was a major influence on the world, for better or for worse, I'd like my son to read this book...at least someday.

     For my daughter, I chose the American Girl series which she is still a fan of.  However, she didn't read independently. I did everything I could think of to motivate her to read silently.  Despairing, I finally thought of DEAR (Drop Everything and Read).  One afternoon I called the kids down to the living room with a book they'd enjoy reading for 30 minutes.  I set the timer. (Can't argue with a timer.)  They were not allowed to leave for any reason during that time. They could not leave to get a drink, or go to the bathroom, or to get another book.  They had to stay in the living room with me, the entire time, reading the book. It could not be a school book. It had to be a non-school book. (I would not allow comic books either. The point is to have them read chapter books.  Of course younger children can enjoy picture books.)  Oh, and here is the key to DEAR, I read a book too!  Not a school related book. Not a magazine. Not a newspaper.  Not the computer. A chapter book!  I could not leave the room during DEAR anymore than my kids could.  I ignored the telephone. I read. This is an opportunity to model that Mom reads for fun. How often do the kids see me reading things that I HAVE to read?  How rarely do they see me reading a book for pure enjoyment?  In truth, I have done very little of that since before college. This became my favorite time of the day. It was incredibly soothing and relaxing in the midst of a busy day to pull apart from a hectic schedule to lay down on the sofa and enjoy a trip to other lands in other times.  My son quickly got engrossed in his book. My daughter tried to avoid the book for the first two days. When she saw that I was firm, and she realized she could be forever bored out of her gourd 30 minutes a day unless she read a book, she started reading independently. Today, she and my son both rarely go anywhere without a book in hand to read silently.  Another important rule is that no comprehension questions may be asked by the teacher to the students.  The students need to have reading material they can enjoy without worrying about "measuring up."   If comprehension questions are asked of every single book they read, they are likely to quit reading for fun.    

     How about transitioning readers of any type into the numerous historical books that are used in the TOG curriculum?  For months before we began TOG, I raved over the historical books being more interesting than dry textbooks.  My daughter is compliant, eager to please me, so she willingly dove into the historical books, answering the accountability and thinking questions at the Dialectic level. She has needed some guidance in making connections between historical facts during our Socratic Discussions, but she has progressed. Although my son is a deep thinker, quickly makes connections and is an excellent reader, the historical books are not his favorite. He tends to stall on them. Some books he likes better than others so he reads them more avidly. Nevertheless, he finds a few of them sheer drudgery to read, which slows him down. For that, I help him to focus on the big picture. 

        To motivate my kids in the details of school, I have them look at the big picture.  What do they want to be when they grow up? Of course this may change, but their desires now can help them work their way through things that may not be fun to them now.  My daughter wants to be a teacher and my son wants to be a lawyer.  Both of those require college.  Where would they like to go to college?  What are the requirements? I line up their coarse work to help them achieve their goals. They know that. Also we look at motivating Bible verses.  They have hearts to obey God, so verses are the most impacting to them. Then I had them make posters of pictures of their career goals, college of their choice and verses of their choice. Now my son, in particular, has motivation to do the difficult things.  Furthermore, he was greatly encouraged by one of the actors at Colonial Williamsburg last summer, and that has helped him to persevere.  Despite not enjoying certain history books, he likes the new found knowledge. He is a regular junior Patrick Henry, expounding at great length aboaut his ideas, whenever he has a captive audience.  I often wish I could go back in time to visit with Patrick Henry's mother to compare notes. 

     My kids are still learning to love reading.  When we pile up in the car, they always have books with them, usually school books if they have school work to do. However if school work is caught up, they always bring a fun book to enjoy on the drive. As long as they keep doing that, I feel as though we are making progress. Hopefully they have a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

    Doomed to happen at the end of each school year, there are homeschool moms who ask if they can condense, postpone or even skip the final weeks of their TOG year plan.  Outside commitments, illness, and moves from Texas to Virginia cause school to seep into the fun of summer. (That last one describes me.) Public schools have the same problem.  The beauty of homeschooling is that the schedule can be flexible so we can finish well.  Even though I am now in the same boat, and I am a bit worn down from our hectic unpredictable schedule of selling a house, moving, househunting, moving into a new house, unpacking, making the house one's own with personal touches, and dealing with paperwork galore, a mom can only get completely worn out!   Nevertheless, I am determined to conquer completion of the school year.

     Completing the school year is a privilege to me.  When I was a student, I rarely got to finish a text book.  In math, I never thoroughly studied fractions or decimals or percents. Higher maths were so complex, I'm not sure what I missed. In history, everything beyond WWII was a blur, as we raced to the end.  Etc, etc, etc.  As a student, I enjoyed learning, but grew increasingly frustrated when we didn't finish the books.  What was the rest of the story? 

     Homeschooling was an opportunity to take advantage of time.  Although my goal has always been to finish the school year by Memorial Day, we are usually finishing in June.  This year in particular, it isn't so bad for my kids, because they have had lots of down time, or mini-vacations, in between their studies.

       While driving to Virginia they saw more snow than they ever saw in their entire life! While house hunting, they learned things like short sales, foreclosures, loans, closing costs, inspections, and walk throughs.  When the inspector met them, he said he can always tell who the homeschoolers are.  Other kids have to have a video device to entertain them. Homeschoolers get involved in the inspection process and ask lots of questions.

     While waiting for the house to close the kids got to take trips to Civil War battlefields, the Marine Corps Museum, Washington DC and Colonial Williamsburg. 

     They did books in between but went full force once we moved into the house. Now they are near completion. They have completed math and science.  They have Tapestry of Grace left to finish.  They are working on that full time, since the other subjects are done, except Latin which is on hiatus. Latin can wait. It is a dead language after all. It will still be the same when we get back to it. It is only a three year program, which we still have time to complete. 

   Last week my kids did 3 weeks of TOG. This week they have 2 more weeks done and I have just written up the plans for the final week, which I hope they can read tomorrow and then we can have Socratic Discussion on Saturday. That leaves literature for both.  My daughter has 10 weeks of literature to do. I might skip a lot of this, but she is in 9th grade and taking Rhetoric.  As much as she has struggled with learning over the years, she is amazingly picking up literary analysis. She wants to become a school teacher for about third grade. Yet because of this gift, I have told her she should consider a degree in language arts.  I'll leave the final decision to her, but I don't think she'd even consider it unless I said something.  She always surprises me with what she picks up in the Classics.  Therefore, it's important to persevere. However I did skip, or actually replace some books. Since she read Uncle Tom's Cabin, I took out Huckleberry Finn and Great Expectations. Looking through the notes, I don't see how they carry the same depth she got with Uncle Tom's Cabin. Besides, we can always listen to those on tape. Because she always enjoys poetry, I kept all the poetry.  My son has a mere stack of literature books to read.  He never minds that! My daughter has 2 weeks of philosophy to do and 5 weeks of government.  Why persevere?  

   Perseverence is more than checking off a list.  My son is in 7th grade and my daughter is in 9th.  They are preparing for college. This is my daughter's last year with Year 3 with me and as it is she is doing dialectic history. Whenever I find European history in the Rhetoric section, I lecture the notes to her so she has some background to fall back on.  A strong foundation is key for success in college, voting, and career.  If she becomes a teacher, she'll use this information. My son wants to attend Patrick Henry College, which has a rigorous school.  He needs to be well prepared.  Then he wants to become a lawyer, join the USAF JAG corps, then become president of the  United States.

     If I were to skip the last unit of Year 3, they'd miss out on the era of 1876-1900.  That's immigration, labor unions, Andrew Carnegie, Teddy Roosevelt, American Imperialism, Hawaii, and the Spanish American War.  All of this is going to build and lead in to our next era of study when we move to Year 4.  We are now sensing the foreshadowing of WWI. When I was in school I learned WWI started because Archduke Ferdinand was shot. Although true, it goes deeper than that.  Historically, it goes back in time, to countries that didn't get along with each other. Why didn't they get along? Study TOG Years 1-3! =)   

     When we did year 1, we finished the end of June.  I know a lot of moms who want to condense or skip the final weeks of year 1, which is Ancient Rome, ready to start the summer.  I've heard a lot of moms say that 9 weeks of Ancient Rome were not important. Hmmmm, I don't know about that. Although 9 weeks is long, it is also meaty.  Ancient Rome is exceedingly full of history.  It's the basis of our government today. Ancient Rome is the story of Romulus and Remus, power hungry Caesars, a humble Cincinnatus, persecuted Christians, and then the split of the Roman Empire.  It sets the stage to understand the drama of the Middle Ages, which unfolds in Year 2 Unit 1.    

     I am already predicting the fizzle for the end of year 4, which takes us into the present after the Cold War.  Since we live in this era, we may think it easy material to skip. However this will be the perfect opportunity to reflect on 4 years of studying World History from the beginning of time, and apply lessons learned to the  present. As Patrick Henry says, history repeats itself.  He also says we can predict the future by looking back at the past.  I'm already scheming how we'll play this out in our final unit celebration.

         However, the end of year unit that most saddens me that gets skipped, is year 2 unit 4, which covers the 18th century when the French and Indian War and the American Revolution were fought, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights were written, and we had our first president of the United States of America.  This is pivotal in World History. If end of year units must be skipped or condensed, I plead that it only be done with Years 1, 3 and 4. The end of Year 2 though is essential to understanding history today. Everything before year 2 unit 4 leads up to our government's founding.

     James Madison poured himself into a wealth of books, studying the governments of yore studying their strengths and weaknesses. He immersed himself into the arguments of philosphers who made the case for the freedom of man. Compiling the strengths, he organized the plan for government he felt would be the most balanced that would not only represent the people, but also have to answer to the people.  This is the plan that was presented and slightly modified at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, giving us a "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

    I strongly believe that of all the eras of history, the 18th century is pivotal.  Yet it's difficult to skip any of history.  It creates gaps, which interrupts the flow, causing the rest of the story to not quite make sense.

     Understandably though, there are times that something must be done about the end of year fizzle.  Although other homeschoolers certainly have the freedom to decide what to do with the fizzle, if they ask for my advice, I usually recommend stacking up the books and letting the kids read, read, read.  After all, isn't that part of what summer is all about, reading and swimming pools?  It was for me growing up. Skip the discussions.  Have a Bookworm Cafe during lunch. Talk about what was fascinating. Enjoy. When the next year is picked up in full force, and something from the previous unit is referenced, the kids will say, "Oh I remember reading that!"  A historic connection can then be made. However, if at all possible, I do recommend trying to do the discussions with the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights.  I am working hard to restrain myself here, because the American Revolution and events leading up to it is my favorite period in history.  To skip the biographies of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Lafayette...(the list could go on and on) would be a sorrowful loss. We purposely spent extra time on this unit, because it was so fascinating we didn't want to miss anything. Also it was great preparation for our summer vacation to Colonial Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, Washington DC, Montpelier and Monticello.       

     My kids are motivated to finish well. As previously mentioned, they had lots of down time during the move. We continue to take breaks. We've had several get togethers with friends in the last week. We have our hotel booked for an exciting upcoming event at Colonial Williamsburg. I'd take my kids to the pool but something I have learned about Virginia, is that it rains a lot here!  Instead we are enjoying walks and bike rides between raindrops, feeling the cool breeze, enjoying the tall green trees, looking at the newest beautiful flowers to grace the area, while listening to the woodpecker peck in the distance.  We are not deprived by not yet being done with school.  When the end of the school year threatens to cause us to fizzle, we remember that it is a privilege to be able to finish well.

   There is an interesting question at the TOG forum, about permission to start teaching the curriculum in the 1800's instead of the ancients. She doesn't enjoy the ancients, so she wants to start with her favorite era. Homeschoolers of other history curriculums also weigh in the pros and cons of which era to begin with, especially when starting new curriculum.

     Of course, each homeschooler is free to begin where they think best. Even college history classes are not taken in sequence from the beginning of time to the present. Furthermore, I have known many perfectly content TOGgers who have started in the middle. When we started TOG three years ago, I knew we had to start with the Ancients, even though I'm not personally keen on the era myself. My favorite is the American Revolution.  However my kids and I were asking too many questions about the foundations of our country's history, that kept taking us to the past, where everything was sort of murky and confusing. My 9 year old son would ask questions about how our government is structured, as we studied the Constitution, and I'd say, "Well....I know it has something to do with democracy in Ancient Greece vs the republic in Ancient Rome, although I don't understand the difference between the two."  My feeble attempt to answer his question resulted in a look of discouragement on his face. Oh dear, jumping into the American History text book in 4th grade was losing him. Promising him an Old World History text for 5th grade was not exciting him. There were too many gaps on the pages. That's about the time I found TOG.

     Although I was not excited to learn Ancient History, I was excited about how it would fill in the blanks. Did it ever! Surprisingly we had a blast! We studied Ancient Egypt and were surprised at how that made the Bible make more sense, studying in context with Moses.  Therefore the Mosaic law made more sense. Studying the Mesopotamian cultures helped us understand the Middle East more today, where a lot hasn't changed. The ground work was being laid for Ancient Greece, Alexander the Great and then Rome.  That was TOG Year 1.

     Then we started Year 2 and I wasn't sure about studying the Middle Ages. They were sort of dark. Transitioning into the Middle Ages from the Fall of Rome turned on light bulbs in our mind. Understanding the background, reasoning, purpose and need for the Feudal System helped us to enjoy it immensely. As we studied this fascinating era, we quickly saw the future downfall.  As England became more "modern" we watched France and Russia continue to struggle with their Feudal Systems. Obviously England became the powerhouse, whereas the other countries were setting up a fiasco in their future. We learned about the Norman, William the Conqueror who took over England and forevermore set up tensions between Britain and France. 

    Then we entered the Renaissance, the Reformation, the exploration of the New World and the opening to new ideas. We finally got to my favorite era and we camped out for extra weeks, studying George Washington, Lafayette, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and the battles of the American Revolution.  We went into far more depth than TOG took us, because I felt this era was pivotal. Besides it was the most fun era we had encountered. As we poured over the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, the lessons from Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Magna Charta, and Oliver Cromwell gave more meaning to the decisions the Founding Fathers gave.  When we come back to this at the Rhetoric level, we will understand more when we study the philosophers of the time. There is always more to learn. 

     Then we went on vacation to Colonial Williamsburg, where we would be able to be more interactive now that we understood more of the big picture.  The most exciting time, which validated our taking our history studies from the beginning, was a meeting with the Marquis de Lafayette.  After an incredible presentation, the guests were allowed to ask questions. My 12 year old son asked if the tensions between the British and French during the American Revolution and the French and Indian War goes all the way back to the Hundred Years War.  Lafayette was speechless.  Then he complimented  my son, calling him "the Young Historian," before launching into a terrific explanation of my son's question.  We saw Lafayette two more times and my son had more questions for him. My son has asked more questions of him the two days we saw him than he has for all the other Founding Fathers put together, in all the visits we have made.  Lafayette is more elusive so we don't get to see him as often as the others.

     My son has transitioned from being totally bored with a textbook, to having an interest in history. He still isn't a history buff. Picking up a history book still isn't his favorite thing in the world. But after he reads it he is excited about all the connections he can wow people with. And I really thank Lafayette for calling him "the Young Historian". That story gets a lot of mileage around here, as I use it to encourage him to persevere with those history books. Crafts, field trips and other hands on activities are great, and we certainly do a lot of them. However there comes a time when one needs to read the information and process it themselvs.  My son sees this and actually appreciates it. The results now are far better than his previous sense of frustration at textbooks leaving too many gaps on the pages. Furthermore, this "Young Historian" is able to make the connections between historical events because we started our history studies from the top.

 We'll also try to find a better way to showcase his hats from his various costumes. Recognize any of them?

     I am often asked how to do a Socratic Discussion during history lessons.  Socratic Discussions originate with the Ancient Greek, Socrates, who instead of giving answers, drew the answers out of others by asking lots of questions.  This is the hallmark of the TOG classical history curriculum and has revolutionized how my kids learn.  Instead of them passively tuning out while I lecture, I now actively engage them by asking lots of questions that force them to dig into their grey matter to dust off information they have previously read.  I help them to make connections and the result is that they get excited and they learn!  A case in point involves an interesting connection I made while preparing lessons on John Quincy Adams and the gag rule in the House of Representatives in 1837.  

     America's Founding Fathers had written into the First Ammendment to the Constitution, the right for citizens to petition Congress about concerns of importance to them...such as slavery.  Now that was a hot topic in the 1830's!  Although John Quincy Adams was willing to address the topic of slavery, the Southern plantation owners were not.  In fact, Henry Laurens Pinckney, a Congressman from South Carolina, wrote a resolution that petitions regarding slavery could not be addressed.  Named after him, the gag rule passed. For years, John Quincy Adams fought against this gag rule.

     I didn't even have to wait for official class time.  One day while in the van, I overheard the kids talking about the week's reading assignment.  I listened to them for a few minutes while I waited for them to make a certain connection on their own.  Hmmmm, it wasn't happening. Apparently, they needed a little Socratic nudge. 

Me:  What was the name of the man who wrote the gag rule?

Son: Henry Laurens Pinckney.

Me:  Does that name sound familiar to you?

Son:  Pinckney?  Um...no.

Me:  How about the first two parts of the name?

Son:  Henry Laurens?

Daughter:  Oh, wasn't he in the Continental Congress?

Son:  Oh yeah.  That sounds vaguely familiar.

Me:  Yes, he was president of the Continental Congress during the American Revolution.  Do you remember the name of his son?

Son:  Oh...wait...don't tell me!  We learned about him in the Yorktown Electronic Field Trip.  John Laurens!

Me:  Yes.  Now do you remember any causes that he represented?

Son:  He fought too hard in battle.  Lafayette said that he did everything that he could to get killed.  

Me:  That is true.  But John Laurens actually inspired Lafayette with a couple of his passions.  Do you remember anything for which he worked intensely?

Daughter:  He was an abolitionist!

Son:  Oh yeah.  He wanted slaves to fight in the war in return for their freedom.

Me:  Precisely.  John Laurens inspired Lafayette to fight slavery.  Do you remember which state the Laurens family was from?

Son and Daughter:  (blank looks)

Me:  They were from South Carolina.  Henry Laurens, from the Continental Congress, owned a slave plantation there.  John Laurens was Henry Laurens Pinckney's uncle.  Do you remember when John Laurens died?

Son:  Yes, he died in a minor skirmish about a year after Yorktown.

Me:  That is correct.  Henry Laurens Pinckney was born several years after John Laurens' death.  Do you think, if John Laurens had lived longer, that he would have continued his work as an abolitionist within his family and even the nation?    

     Wow, did that ever get the ball rolling!  The kids were now impassioned, full of lively opinions on the abolitionists vs slave owners and there was no way I could get a word in edge wise if I tried.  Mission accomplished!        

     I counsel a lot of homeschool moms who worry about getting every i dotted and t crossed.  I thought that this week's experiences would be a good example to share with others about the freedom to be flexible!  Flexibility is actually a balancing act in the educating process of a young mind.  Whether teaching other people's kids or my own, I have seen over the years that consistency is the key to successful learning.  Yet the reality of life pops up when we least expect it.  For many of us, it can be tempting to conquer the lesson plan, instead of embracing the opportunity and experiencing a different game plan.  However, how to balance life's realities with the need for consistency?  This is the very question I have had to ask myself recently.

     This week are the ceremonies for my husband's retirement.  Today was the luncheon, tomorrow his family flies in, Friday is the ceremony, and Sat we have a monthly commitment to sing at the nursing home.  My son will be participating in the local homeschool geography bee and spelling bee (hoping to continue on for the national competitions) in the next two weeks.  All of this after a 2 week holiday (and illness).  

     I belong to a yahoo group for IEW and one of the moms posted earlier this week this humorous, yet realistic subject line, "Christmas break sucked out my kids' brain."  I think all of us educators can relate!  For the first time ever, we did not have this problem...we did a little bit of school over the holidays.  gasp  However it honestly paid off!  Despite some illness, we still had fun family time over the holidays, and the kids slipped right back into full schedule this week with unusual perkiness!  Yea!!  Because they forget their writing skills easier than any other subject, I had them work on their American Revolution/Texan Revolution research paper over the holidays.  

     Today was crazy so I flip flopped our entire schedule.  We did our history Socratic discussion in the morning instead of the afternoon.  We had to get that discussion done so we could move on.  The other subjects would be easier to flex.  By the time we were done with discussion, it was time to drive nearly an hour to where my husband works for his retirement luncheon.   Then some errands after that and we were home by 2pm.  My daughter and I did her Rhetoric (high school) literature, government and philosophy discussion. Then they had recess, followed by my reading aloud from the current GA Henty book while they worked on crafts.  I have been encouraged that reading aloud from these books are something beneficial enough to keep in the schedule as much as possible.

     After dinner and chores we settled down to do a KWO for the final paragraph of their research paper.  I wasn't sure at this point how it would turn out.  I didn't know if the kids could actually find the information I had sketched out.  I was beginning to think it was too broad and off topic.  Besides I found out my in-laws may be late arriving from the icy north, if they can come at all.  Flights have been tenuous at best. Tomorrow was looking increasingly crazier! While I flip flopped options in my head, the kids tried to find necessary Texas information in our resource books, but found little.  Suddenly we heard an explosion and the power went out in the neighborhood. 

     Well, that sort of sealed the deal.  My decision was made for me.  The kids were worried about having time to write their rough draft for this paragraph amidst all of the upcoming events.  I assured them that due to recent events, this paragraph was now canceled!  I had a new plan!  This week they have to write the introduction and conclusion paragraphs, join their previous paragraphs and write transitional sentences between paragraphs.  We have a unit celebration coming up and we'll use this research paper as the basis for the presentation.   The kids will each choose a side, American or Texan, and write their note cards from their research paper.  Then we'll look up photos on-line to prepare power point presentations for the unit celebration in a couple of weeks!  Next week is the next Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip, so they will do a writing assignment next week based on that. (My son is really looking forward to this one.  He's already previewed the video.) The week after that we need to whip out 2 weeks of TOG topics and prepare for the unit celebration for the 24th.  Whew!  The other subjects (math, Latin and science) will be worked in as it is possible.  Our focus will be history and literature the next few weeks. 

     The way I decide where to remain consistant when the realities of life sneak in, is by looking at the weakest area.  For my kids it is writing.  They have gained so much this year, I don't want them to lose that.  Then the history topics we have to keep up with, since they go by weekly topics.  There are 36 topics in the curriculum, which means 36 weeks in the school year.  On top of that we are doing Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips once a month.  The EFTs are a wonderful break to keep us fresh for the TOG work.  Before we used to get worn down.  But this year we have been energized by the monthly EFT's.  Since we'd like to be done by the end of May, we make sure the history and literature gets done on schedule, whereas the other subjects are easier to flex and catch up with.   

     As for the rest of our darkened evening, we went downstairs and I pulled out a stash of candles that we lit.  Still we could barely see a thing.  I told the kids this was a history lesson...they were experiencing life before electricity!  We pulled out Uno and played several rounds of that.  I livened things up by telling Lafayette and John Laurens stories.  The kids kept giggling that I had a new story for every round, but I thought they'd enjoy a few things I had read last night that made me laugh!  In the process, I'd get distracted in the card game and didn't always lay down the right cards.  It made the evening fun and helped it go by rather quickly, when we were pleasantly surprised by power!    

     So there you have it!  Make the most of every opportunity!  Use the lesson plans as a guideline, but don't let it become your master.  Try to keep some consistency in the weaker areas and focus on the most important stuff.  That way, everything else can fall into place! 

We were chatting at my TOG yahoo group today about how we have our dc notebook their TOG papers.  We have a three step technique that works well for us.

The first step is for weekly use.  I purchased clipboards in the dc's favorite colors at the office supply store.  At a glance,  we can tell who's is who's.  On the top for easy and frequent reference throughout the day is their weekly assignment sheet that they can check off as they go.

Behind their weekly schedules, they keep their TOG discussion questions for the week and map of the week for handy reference and ease of use.

The second step is the collection of a year's worth of work.  At the end of the week these go into their TOG notebooks.  I bought each of them cool notebooks with little pockets.  They can insert little pictures of their studies as they like.  Here is dd's.

The old schedules go in the front.

They have a section for their discussion questions.

There is a section for their maps.

There is a section for their writing assignments on TOG topics.

The third step is binding everything into a portfolio at the end of the year.  The dc take everything out of their notebooks and group everything according to date/culture studied. They also take all the flat stuff from the past unit celebrations to add to the portfolio. Those go into a decorated 3 ring notebook.  Here is dd's from Year 1, the study of Creation to the Fall of Rome.

We covered a plain notebook in burlap.  The jagged brown squares say "Year of Redemption".  They stamped with gold ink onto dark brown cardstock, cut out with fancy scissors and glued on.  The gold thing was a project from their study of Ancient Egypt.  (We can't remember what it's called!)  It was made of clay and engraved with their name in hieroglyphics, then painted.  Then they used raffia to decorate as they wished.  We covered the inside covers with black cardstock.  Here is ds'.

I printed out on cardstock all the wonderful comments family members sent when I e-mailed pictures and descriptions of our unit celebrations.   These are on the yellow cardstock.  At the final celebration last year, the grandmas each gave the children notecards with a lovely note and money!  The notecards are pasted in the inside cover.  (The money has been spent!)

Then the dc took cardstock to decorate dividers for each culture/time period studied.  DD liked to research the types of food each of the ancient cultures ate.  Those menus were pasted on the fronts of her cardstock.  Then she designed borders using designs known to that culture.  She also tried to use colors known for the cultures.  Here's one for Mesopotamia.

Here's her Mayan menu.

Inside the dividers the dc put all their work from that culture, including maps, questions, papers, and art projects.  Many items seen in the unit celebration can be seen here.  This summer I hope to make copies of photos of the unit celebrations for them to add to these sections.  Here's a paragraph that dd wrote and turned into a pop up on Egypt.

Here's her Creation book.

Here's her Phoenician dye project.

Here's her string art using Greek mathematics.

Here's her tortoise mask from her play, "The Tortoise and the Hare."

DS did original artwork for his dividers.  Here are the Inuits.

The Phoenicians...

For the Persians he designed a rug.

Here is part of his Egyptian costume that went inside the dividers.

Here are some of his overlay maps.

Here is one of his early paragraphs on how the Mesopotamians observed comets.  He designed this little book to display his little paragraph.  (Since we were beginning to learn to write well with IEW, we started with simple paragraphs.  Those were easy to display as pop ups.  We haven't done pop ups in a long time, because now their papers are much longer.)

When you open it, you see a pop up of a comet, which moves (he designed this himself)....

Watch the comet move...

That comet zooms across the sky!

That's our 3 step process of storing a years worth of TOG!  I am sure it will look different by the time the dc start rhetoric!  LOL